Automatic cut-off.



No. 849,637. PATENTED APR. 9, 1907;

' J. PATTON= AUTOMATIC GUT-=0FP.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 8, 1905.

, ful Improvements in Automatic Cut-Offs, of

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUTOMATIC CUT-OFF.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 9, 1907.

Application filed December 8,1906. Berial ll'o. 290,994.

To all, whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J onn D. PATTON,-& citizen of the United States,residing at Rosedale, in the county ofLWyandotte and State of Kansas,have invented certain new and usewhich the following is a specification'My invention relates to anautomatic out- 01f and my object is to providea device of.

this character which may be set to cut off at a predetermined timeelectrical circuits, &c'., or gas, water, and oil without furtherattention on the part of the operator. The application of theinvention,-however, need not be limited to these purposes, as itmay beemployed for numerous and other important uses-for example, the stoppingor'starting of steam, electric, and gas motors and various other caseswhere thebeginning orterr mination of an operation is to be observed.

The invention consists of the novel construction, combination, andarrangement of parts hereinafter described, pointed out in the claims,and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which latter- Figure 1represents a front elevation of the invention. Fig. 2 isa side elevationthereof. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section taken on line III III ofFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on line IV IV of Fig. 1.

For convenience in describing the invention I have shown it arranged asa circuitbreaker, in which 1 designates a frame arranged in the form ofa loop consisting of parallel side bars 2, united by semicircular endportions 3 and 4.

'5 designates a wire extending through the upper end of the frame andprovided at its opposite ends with eyes 6 and 7 said wire beinginsulated from'the frame ,by fiber 8 or other suitable non-conductingmaterial.

9 designates oneend of a circuit-wire tached to eye 6.

10 designates an eye secured to the lower end of frame 2 for thereception of one.end of a circuit-Wire 11.

I 12 designates a cylinder which is normally closed at its open end by aremovable cap 12 and divided at its central portion into twocompartments 13 14 of equal size by a centrally-dis osed transversepartition 15, provided wit a central orifice 16 for a purposehereinafter described. Partition 15 is provided with a pair of trunnions17, journaled in the central portions of sidebarsi2, one of saidtrunnions being longer than the other to receive the-pulley 18 fixedthereon. Partition 15 is also provided at a, point intermediate thetrunnions with a threaded stem 15, upon which a thumb-nut" orcounterweight 15 is adjustably mountedu Trunnions 17 are provided withcollars 19-to prevent the cylinder from shifting laterally in frame 1.

20 designates a cable secured to pulley 18 andattached at its lowerterminals to a handle 21, whereby said pulley may be operated when thedevice is overhead or out of convenient reach of the operator.

Cylinder 12 is provided at its opposite ends with contact terminals 2223, arranged to automatically engage eye 7 when it is desired to form apath fiom wire 9 to wire 11 for an electric current.

24 designates a switch secured by a hinge 2:5 to the upper portion ofthe frame and adapted when swung to an operative position to contactwith eye 6 in order to form a path from eye 6 to the frame when bothcontact-points 22 23 are out of engagement with eye 7. l

In practice one of the compartments is filled with sand or othersuitable substance adapted to flow slowly through orifice 16, thequantity of said substance being'reghlated by the predeterminedtimeintervening. between the setting of the device and the time at which itis to operat'eor break the circuit,

- the full compartment, which in this instance is compartment 13, isthen turned uppermost until its contact-point 22engages eye 7. When thisoccurs, the cylinder will occupy a slightly-tilted position, (see Fig.3,) so that the greatest weight will be at the rear of a vertical linedrawn through the center of ori' fice 16. This preponderance of weightat one side of the center line will reliably, hold contact-point 22 inengagement with eye 7 until a sufficient quantity of the substance incompartment 13 flows into compartment 14 through orifice 16 to overcomethe downward pressure exerted by counterweight 15 and causes thecylinder to assume substantially a vertical position; (See dotted lines,Fig. 3.) As the cylinder swings to said vertical position contact-point22 is thrownout of engagement with eye 7, and thus breaks the circuitbetween wires 9 and 11. If it is desired, however, to maintain thecircuit for an indefinite period, the switch 24 is swung upwardly intocontact with eye 6, so that the current, instead of passing down- Wardlythrough wire 5, eye 7, cylinder 12, trunnions 17, and frame 1 to Wire 11will pass from eye 6 to switch 24 and from thence to Wire 11 through theframe. After the cylinder swings to the vertical position (shown bydotted lines, Fig. 3) the remaining substance in compartment 13 willflow into compartment 14, so that when the device is again set byoperative handle 21 to bring compartment 14 uppermost contact.

point 23 will be brought and held into engagement with eye 7. The timeintervening between the setting and the operation of the device may bevaried by adjusting thumbnut 15 inwardly or outwardly, as it is obviousthat the nearer said thumb-nut is to the outer end of stem 15 thelonger the cylinder willbe held in its inclined position. If, however,it is desired to change the time to any great extent, this may beaccomplished by diminishing or increasing the quantity of sand or othersubstance in the cylinder, as it is obvious that it will require acertain time for a given uantity of the substance to pass through ori'ce 16.

WVhile the power exerted by the device is limited, yet it may be theinitial means of starting or stopping heavy motors or performing workrequiring considerable power by operating any suitable trip mechanismwhich will release a spring, weight, or other agent capable ofperforming considerable work.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1..In' the device of the character described, an electrical conductorarranged in the form of a frame, a cylinder journaled therein anddivided into two compartments having communication through an orifice sothat a substance. may flow from one compartment to the other, acontact-terminal supported by but insulated from the frame, a switchadapted to establish comnmnication between said terminal and the frame,and contact-terminals carried by the cylinder adapted to alternately andtemporarily rest against the firstanentioned terminal.

2. In a device of the character described, a loop, a cylinder journaledtherein, a partition dividing said cylinder in two compartments'andprovided with an orifice, a substance in said cylinder adapted to flowfrom one compartment to another through the orifice,contact-terminals atthe ends of the cylinder, a contact-terminal at one end of the loopagainst which either of the lirstmentioned terminals is adapted to bearwhen it is desired to support the cylinder in a tilted position, aswitch mounted upon the loop and adapted to be thrown into contact withthe terminal on said loop, and means for setting the cylinder.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

I JOHN D. PATTON. VV'tnes'ses:

F. G. FISCHER, F. E. AoKLnY.

